Mikhail/Novella
From Drakengard 3 Official Japanese Website Translation by kho-dazat Mikhail - Our Mistake "Wah!" I jolted awake, even though it wasn’t morning yet and I was still sleepy. It was because something hit me real hard under my chin, where it’s sensitive. Oh… it was Zero’s leg! "Zero! Zero! What’s wrong?" I nudged her with my nose. "Are you hurt somewhere? Are you in pain?" She must really be suffering if she’s writhing like this in her sleep! Do her wounds hurt so bad that she feels them even in her dreams? "Zero! Hey, Zero!" "…I’m tired… lemme sleep…" "But you’re in pain! You’re in pain!" "Shut up. And I always tell you… don’t always repeat what you say like that… it’s irritating…" Zero’s voice sounds super annoyed. Is that also because she’s in pain…? It’s not just that she’s grumpy ‘cuz I’m interrupting her sleep, is it? "What can I do to help you? Tell me, Zero!" I hate seeing Zero hurt! I just hate it! Seeing her hurt makes my chest feel all hurty inside! "What will make you feel better?" "Huh…? Ahh… I’ll just eat a bunch of meat… and sleep it off… that’ll do the trick…" "So you’ll feel better if you eat some meat?" "Yeah… now let me sleep…" "Okay! I got it!" I see! So she’ll feel better if she fills her tummy with meat! That makes perfect sense! I always feel better with a full belly, too! "I’ll go hunt some meat for you then, okay? Okay?" "Whatever… and don’t… repeat yourself… " "Zero?" No answer. "Did you pass out?! Are you okay?! Are you okay?!" I could hear her snoring. She’s just asleep. Being careful not to wake her, I sneak out of the cave we were taking shelter in. It was still dark out, but the moon was nice and bright, making it easy to see. While Zero is sleeping, I’ll get her some meat to eat in time for breakfast! I hope I can find some real yummy meat! Meat so good it’ll make Zero all better in no time! Meat that will make her feel like she gained a level with a single bite! In other words… magical meat! I’m going to find Zero some magical meat! …but where does magical meat come from? I took to the air but didn’t know where to start searching. I looked down at the ocean with the moon reflected on its surface. And I thought. I thought real hard! Meat… meat… ocean… meat… ocean meat… Ocean meat?! Oh! I see lots of fish swimming around just under the waves. They look real pretty, shining silver in the moonlight. Could they be… magical? Should I catch some? But wait! No! Zero doesn’t like fish. I remember having caught a bunch for her one day and she made a face at me. When I asked her if she didn’t like fish, she looked troubled and said: "I can’t eat mackerel…" I think she whispered about it making her remember something. Maybe a time she ate mackerel and got real bad food poisoning. I wouldn’t want to remember that, either! Okay, so fish are no good. If she eats something she doesn’t like she’ll just feel worse! So I should look for something on land. I flew away from the ocean. Beating my wings as hard as I could, I raced to find something before sunrise. Before I knew it, I was in the Desert Country. Wow, that was fast, even for me! Look at all this sand! This desert is almost as big as the ocean! But even though it was big, I couldn’t find anything to eat there. If it were like the seashore, I could at least find some crabs or something, but no. I looked all over and couldn’t find any meat, just some humans. Well, aren’t humans also made out of meat? So I guess I did find some, but I don’t like to eat anything shaped like Zero. I’m sure Zero wouldn’t, either. So I kept looking for meat that wasn’t a fish or a human. I decided to fly somewhere very, very distant. I mean, it makes sense for something magical to be far away from where you are, right? If you didn’t have to travel for it, it couldn’t be very magical, could it? Nothing you can get a hold of so easily should be, don’t you think? I flew and flew until I started feeling pretty pooped. I looked around to see where I was, when… "Ow ow ow ow!" I hit my head on a cliff! Since I was looking down I didn’t see it coming. Zero always tells me to pay more attention when I’m flying. Oh, I’m in the Mountain Country! No wonder, then. Wow, and look at all the meat! Cows and sheep and mountain goats all over the place! Wow! Wow! Wowie! I should of come here straight off the bat. Okay, I’ll catch me a cow, then. With this many around, it’ll be easy pickings! Hee hee! I caught the biggest cow I could find! This sure is swell! …come to think of it, I haven’t eaten since this morning. I’m hungry…. and I just love beef! "I’m gonna dig in!" Mmm! It’s so yummy! It just about melts in my mouth! So good! So good! This might be the best cow I’ve ever eaten! "I can’t believe I ate the whole thing!" Oh no! It wasn’t supposed to be for you, dummy! Dummy! Zero was supposed to eat it! "I’ll catch another one! I’ll catch the next biggest cow and bring it straight back to Zero! Straight back to Zero! …huh?" I was gonna go catch another cow, but when I turned around I saw two humans looking up at me. They looked so sad! It was a little old grandma and a little old grandpa. They had tears in their eyes! I suddenly remembered that Zero once told me that people have these things called farms. Since there are no fields to grow wheat in the Mountain Country, they mostly raise animals here. Could this… be a farm? And did I… just eat that old couple’s cow? I did, didn’t I…! "Waaah! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!" It’s not right to steal other people’s food! It’s not right! Looking for meat that wasn’t fish… or people… or belonged to people… I flew off somewhere else. A place without many humans would be ideal. That way there’d be less of a chance I’d steal their food. I don’t want to bother or hurt anybody. A place without many people, but not devoid of life either, like in the desert… I found myself in the Forest Country. I’m sure I can find some meat that doesn’t belong to anybody here! I heard birds chirping all around me. The forest is full of animals! I try landing. Trees make it really hard to get on the ground. I hate getting branches all stuck in my craw, too. The sound they make when they snap off is just awful! "Hey! Watch where you’re landing!" Hm? Did I hear a voice telling me not to land? Was it my imagination? "Hey! Dumb-ass!" Oh, good. He wasn’t talking to me. I’m a dragon, not an ass. "Can’t you hear me?! You stinky, filthy, ugly dragon!" "What? Is there a dragon other than me in this forest? Where is he?" "I’m talking about you, stupid!" A little creature came buzzing before my eyes. Did he just call me smelly? And dirty? And… "I’m not ugly! I’m not ugly! You’re mean!" "Yeah, sure, okay! Let me correct myself, then: you’re a beastly, hideous, stupid-looking excuse for a dragon!" "He-day-us? I don’t know what that means, but I bet it’s something not nice! What are you, anyway?" "You’re a dragon and you’ve never seen a faerie before? So you don’t just look stupid… you really are stupid! Wouldn’t the world be better off if you just dropped dead?” "You shouldn’t say stuff like that! It’s bad! It’s bad!" "I’m sorry, but haven’t you ever heard the saying, only death can cure the fool? Really… just die!" I thought he might just be playing around, but now I’m really starting to think this faerie is out to hurt my feelings! "Stop that, you! This dragon is right. You shouldn’t say such terrible things!" Oh, here comes another faerie! I think this one’s a girl. "Hello, little dragon. What have you come here for?" "I’m looking for some magical meat!" "Is that right? Well… you’re in luck! There happens to be some, right up there." The girl faerie pointed to a round looking thing hanging high on a tall tree. It looked about the size of Zero’s head, maybe a little bigger. It was much smaller than I expected! "That’s magical meat? But it’s so small!" "It may be small… but it’s truly magical!" "Really? Well… if you say so!" "Trust me! And listen… it’s stuck very firmly to that tree, so make sure it pull it as hard as you can! Understand?” "I do! Thank you!" So magical meat grows from trees! Who’d have thought it? Hm? Do I hear buzzing? "Hurry, now! Grab that meat!" The faeries were cheering me on from below, so I took the meat in my mouth and pulled it off the tree! "…ow ow ow ow!” All of a sudden, the inside of my mouth started stinging all over! "Aha ha ha! He fell for it! I can’t believe it!" A bunch of little needles are stinging my mouth all over! Oh, it hurts! It really hurts! "How do you like the taste of beehive, baby? It’s tasty, ain’t it? Bwa ha ha ha!" You tricked me! You meanies! …I wanted to say, but I couldn’t. "Poor ‘lil baby dwagon! Stupid ‘lil baby! Hah hah!" Ow! Ow! Ow! The bees are chasing after me! It’s not my fault, guys! Stop! Stop! I escaped as fast as I could! I flew and I flew and I flew… and soon I was back by the ocean. The bees weren’t following me anymore… thank goodness! Why did those faeries do something so mean to me? They’re so small and cute… Maybe I knocked over a tree when I landed? And they got mad and punished me? That must be it. I mean, who’d be mean for no good reason? The sun was already beginning to set. It dyed the sky and ocean bright red. "Zero must be wondering where I am! I should hurry back!" In the end I couldn’t find any magical meat for her. I guess it was too much for me by myself… all I wanted was to make her feel better… Letting out a big sigh, I noticed something splashing below me. It was too big to be a fish… I saw sparkling silver scales and a long body and tail. "Oh, it’s a sea serpent!" That’s not a fish, or a human, and it sure doesn’t belong to anybody! Oh… but it lives in the sea, so… maybe it is a fish? No! It’s a sea serpent! A monster! Not a fish! "It’s pretty big… I wonder if I can beat it on my own?" It might be bigger than me… no, no! I’m sure it isn’t! Gah! It started hissing me! Hissing at me! "I-I’m not scared of you!" I blew my fire breath at it. This way I don’t have to get too close… "Hey, no fair!" …but it dove under the water. I can’t use my fire, then! I’m going to have to grab it with my claws and bite it to death. To do that, I’ve got to get real close. It might attack me… "…this is for Zero! I can do it for her! For her!" I’ve got to try! So Zero will get better! I’m going to feed her something magical! Taking a big breath, I swooped down toward the sea serpent. "Take this!" I kicked at the sea serpent’s head as hard as I could. Splashing up big waves, I grabbed its neck in my claws. "Take this! And this! And some of that!” I ripped and I ripped and I ripped and I ripped at it! "Wah! It’s wrapping around me! It’s wrapping around me!" I was so focused on tearing at its neck I didn’t realize it was wrapping the bottom part of its body around me! "That hurts! Let go! Noooo!" It was trying to pull me into the ocean with incredible strength. I twisted my body all around to shake it off. "Why, you…!" I bit into its hard head, my fangs sinking their way in slowly but surely. Sea water got into my mouth and made me almost choke, but I didn’t let go! Zero! Zero! Wait for me! I’m going to bring you something really good to eat! The sea serpent put up a tough fight, and by the time I’d finally beaten it the sun was almost set. When I got it back to the cave, it was already night. Zero was really mad that I left without saying anything to her, but she forgot to lose her temper when she saw the sea serpent. “You killed that?” "I did! So you can praise me… if you want! You can praise me a lot… if you want!" Zero was staring at the sea serpent with wide eyes. Heh heh! Are you impressed? I beat something bigger than me! "Let’s hurry and eat it! You said if you ate lots of meat, you’d get better, right?" I thought I heard the serpent growl, but it was probably just my imagination. "Just to make sure… you did remember to land the finishing blow on this thing, didn’t you?" "The finishing what?” "I figured. It’s probably just playing possum… agh!" Before Zero could finish speaking, the sea serpent started thrashing about. "Whaaaat?! Why is it moving?! Why is it moving?!" It was dead a minute ago! Dead as a doornail! "Because it’s still alive! You shitty dragon!” The serpent squirmed out of my grasp! It was hissing at me again! "It really is still alive!” "Isn’t that obvious?! Ugh!" ”I-I’m sorry~!” I have to beat him again! And fast! "Wah! He’s strong! He’s too strong!" I can’t believe the serpent is so lively even though we’re on the surface now. He’s wailing on me with his tail! Oh no! The cave is starting to collapse! Wah! He whacked me with his tail again! That stings! "Goddamn it! I told you that lie to get you out of my hair, but look what happened!" "What… you… you fibbed?!” That is soooo mean! I worked so hard to find you magical meat! I went to the forest, the desert, the mountains… everywhere! "Zero, you meanie! You… you fibster!" "Shut up and fight!” "I am! I am!" "And stop saying things twice!" Ow! Ow! Zero kicked me under the chin again! But… that must mean she’s feeling better? Look at her go! Maybe the serpent really is magical?! Even though I was getting kicked by Zero and smacked around by the sea serpent, I felt soooo relieved! Category:Novellas